Powershred 125Ci 100% Jam Proof Cross-Cut Shredder

The 125Ci is where Fellowes' Powershred range crosses from small-office to commercial: twenty sheets a pass at DIN 66399 P-4, a 14-gallon bin, and a continuous-duty motor rather than a run-time budget.

The other number that matters is speed. Fellowes rates this machine at around 16 feet per minute, the fastest of the Ci cabinets, which is what turns twenty sheets a pass into real throughput rather than a specification. Combined with a lifetime cutter warranty, it is the model to put in a shared area that gets used every day.

Key Features

• Continuous-duty operation, with roughly 45 minutes of running before a cool-down is needed.
• Twenty sheets per pass on 20 lb paper at DIN 66399 P-4.
• Cross-cut at 0.156 x 1.5 in (about 4 x 38 mm, roughly 152 mm²).
• Shred speed of about 16 ft/min, the quickest in the Ci family.
• 100% Jam Proof System with SafeSense contact protection.
• SilentShred acoustic design and an Energy Savings System.
• Shreds paper, credit cards, CDs and DVDs, staples and paper clips.
• Nine-inch throat, 14-gallon bin, 69 lb, with a two-year machine warranty and a lifetime warranty on the cutters.

The lifetime cutter warranty is a genuine commercial differentiator and worth understanding. Cutting heads are the expensive part of a shredder and the part that wears; a machine whose cutters are covered indefinitely is one the manufacturer expects to survive years of departmental use. It also means the practical lifetime of the machine is determined by the motor and the electronics rather than by the cutters, which is the opposite of what happens to under-maintained office shredders.

That warranty assumes the machine is oiled. Fellowes asks for lubrication at every bin change with its part 35250, and a cutter failure traceable to running dry is not a manufacturing defect.

Specifications

Sheet ratings are Fellowes' figures for 8.5 x 11 in, 20 lb paper. We have not published cabinet dimensions: our supplier data for the Powershred commercial models is demonstrably corrupted (four different machines listed at 17.13, 17.14, 17.15 and 17.16 inches deep) and we could not verify a clean set against Fellowes' documentation. Ask us and we will measure one. Fellowes publishes no decibel value for this model.

What's in the Box

Shredder on its 14-gallon pull-out bin, with power cord and operating instructions. Fellowes specifies its own non-aerosol vegetable-based shredder oil, part 35250, and asks that the machine be oiled each time the waste bin is emptied. Aerosol lubricants must not be used in any shredder.

Who Should Buy This — and Who Should Not

Buy the 125Ci for a department or a shared floor that shreds daily. Continuous duty, twenty sheets a pass and 16 feet per minute mean it keeps up with a queue, the 14-gallon bin means emptying is not constant, and the lifetime cutter warranty makes it a defensible ten-year purchase rather than a three-year one.

Do not buy it if you need micro-cut. This is a P-4 machine at roughly 152 mm², and the Microshred 225Mi is Fellowes' P-5 answer at 24 mm² — four sheets a pass fewer, and worth it if a policy requires it. Do not buy it if a bigger bin is what you actually want: the Powershred 225Ci carries 16 gallons and 22 sheets, and the 425Ci carries 30 gallons with a 12-inch throat. And for a small office of five people, the 99Ci does the job for considerably less.